Review: Potiche

4.0

0.0 (0)

Potiche is a marvelous new film by French director François Ozon (8 Women), starring Gérard Depardieu and Catherine Deneuve - equal parts straight comedy, political farce and character exposition, it highlights the rare talent of Ozon.

The title itself, in French a word for an ornament of no value on a mantelpiece (and sometimes popularly used to describe a politician’s wife) gives away the premise of the plot of this masterpiece from François Ozon. The film uses techniques that often involve outrageous dialogue, visuals and set-ups that contradict with the straight, serious and emotional scenes. This adds verve to not only the story, but the underlying message(s) of the film.

The film begins with a character exposition that introduces us to Suzanne Pujol, a French umbrella heiress who is generally a housebound and submissive wife to a philandering and ultra-capitalist (almost Dickensian) husband, Robert Pujol (played wonderfully by Fabrice Luchini).

The plot unwinds as Suzanne, encouraged by City mayor and socialist Babin (Depardieu, typically strong as a man married to the past and his ideals), takes over the factory after Robert is held hostage after a strike. Complexities arise following his return to the successfully operating factory.

Working on many levels, Potiche is a film that is beautiful, funny, touching and above-all; entertaining. The dialogue, visuals and direction ensure that Ozon has another strong film to add to his collection of outstanding pieces of cinema.

Potiche Trailer WEB

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